Download management software Orbit Downloader may have malicious code/intentions

[mitzevo]

This is actually a few months old (not breaking news), but thought I'd share:

Orbit Downloader, a popular download manager, may contain code that could control your computer for malicious purposes, such as DDoS, and who knows what else!

Here's an excerpt from SoftPedia (Orbit Downloader Contains DDOS Component, ESET Warns):

The application generates revenue for the developer by displaying ads and being bundled with all sorts of third-party software. This is common for many downloaders, but what ESET researchers have uncovered is not.

They’ve found that sometime between December 25, 2012 (version 4.1.1.14) and January 10, 2013, (version 4.1.1.15) a malicious component was added to the main executable file orbitdm.exe.

This new component actually turns the application into a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) tool.

This wouldn't suprise a few members here, as Orbit downloader has been in the spotlight here at the DC forums in the past for behaving suspiciously (BEWARE: IE7Pro and OrbitDownloader post by wordzilla from 2007, almost 7 years ago!)

Make sure you software fanatics are staying safe and running some kind of protection/firewall/av that can (at least try to help) in preventing rogue software from operating on your computer(s).

Stay safe!

[ppass]

Absolutely agree. When my trial version of NetTransport expired, I looked for free alternatives. Orbit Downloader was the Download Manager that came forward, and seemed to do the job in the first days. Why pay for something when I can get something similar for free? or so I thought.

After a few weeks, I could not control Orbit Downloader. Every link I clicked in my browser opened an Orbit pop up and a few seconds later, my entire ADSL connection was down. I regularly got choppy phone calls with my IP phone, my ADSL line went down at random intervals. This was a nightmare.

I even had a technician from my ISP company come into my house and trouble shoot my internet connection for 3 hours. He could not find anything wrong with the connection. The fact is that Orbit Downloaded was launching DoS attacks from my laptop and my ADSL router shut itself down in protection.

I then removed Orbit Downloader, tried to clean as much of the registry as possible. I still get intermitted ADSL cuts which might still be caused by some infection I got from Orbit, who knows?

The best decision I made was to purchase NetTransport. I am not a big fan of spending money on software, but this is one of the 2 pieces of software that I actually bought (Microsoft Windows / Office apart). The other one is SpaceMonger, a fantastic visualizer of the files on my hard drive.

Removing Orbit Downloader and purchasing NetTransport has been worth every penny of my $29.95 investment.

[Josh]

Orbit Downloader

[mitzevo]

Thanks Josh..

ppass, good on you for investing in a software that you think is worth the investment. You know the term, you get what you pay for, it can apply to software to! Althought, opensource and free software can be just as great as commercial alternatives with a few minor differences (i.e., mousers software, DC software, opensource software, etc.)